A goal-focused, customer-driven marketing method is gaining momentum across many industries, products, and services. Will your business be an early settler?

As customer acquisition costs continue to rise with traditional forms of marketing, customer retention is more valuable now than ever before.

According to our partners at HubSpot, inbound marketing is the best way to turn strangers into customers and promoters of your brand. So, how does inbound marketing help increase your customer retention rate? Let’s discuss.

Repeat customers and brand evangelists are imperative to a healthy sales cycle - so customer retention strategies are of critical importance to any business.

Customer retention programs are usually composed of several tactics used to engage, delight, and provide value to current clients. The idea here, as it concerns inbound marketing, is that when you enjoy and provide transparent value, you earn the opportunity for repeat purchases and longer customer lifecycles.

Inbound marketing keeps them coming back for more. By providing honesty, transparency, and proper customer service the consumer will begin to trust and love the brand for its actual value. With confidence and love come sharing, just like in marriage folks! What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. People like to share news and information about the brands, products, and services they enjoy most.

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most efficient marketing strategies for a few reasons. Return on investment is a big inbound marketing plus. Evangelism does not deplete a marketing budget whatsoever. It’s FREE!

So, how can your business organically operate at a high customer retention rate? Let’s discuss how to avoid churn with inbound marketing best practices for customer retention.

Always have established processes and organization strategies in place.

Provide value in an easy-to-consume format. All of the information and content you provide should be organized in a manner that is conducive to learning.

Set firm brand style guides to help boost brand recognition. Establishing a style guide early on will save time, money, and resources.

Brand awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers and is correctly associated with a particular product. (Wikipedia)

When you have established brand awareness, it is much easier for customers to discuss and understand your brand with their peers, thus providing an environment conducive to understanding and positivity.

Create content that is easy to navigate and provides direction along the path of the buyer’s journey.

Always be clear and concise.

Offer premium customer service. Surpass courtesy expectations.

Create a customer behavior analysis process. You should have clear insight on:

The number of active customers

How your active customer count has changed over time

Which customers are still involved actively in customer lifecycle

How much longer they will be involved in that customer lifecycle

The amount of money they are expected to spend with your business (lifetime value)

Set the service excellence standards. Implement tangible differences in how your company renders services and handles customer care issues.

Increase the value of each customer by continuing product development and user experience development.

There are many ways to boost customer retention rates within your business or non-profit. Developing and utilizing customer retention strategies according to inbound marketing best practices will not only increase ROI, it will establish thought leadership, and encourage word of mouth marketing. Be your brand!

Direct Images Interactive is an inbound marketing agency specializing in high-impact video production and online graphic design. We are centrally located between Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. Come see us at The Gate in San Leandro, a thriving tech-hub of innovators. What can we do for you?